5.交叉手指
When you want to wish someone good luck, you'll often tell them, "I'll keep my fingers crossed" that they get the promotion, are pregnant or win the lottery. The gesture is made by crossing your middle finger over your pointer. If you really, really want to wish someone good luck, you might tell them you'll cross all of your fingers and your toes, too. That is, if you live in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. or Australia.
当你想要祝别人好运时，你总是说：“我会把手指交叉为你祝福的”，而这样的好事一般是获得升职、怀孕或中彩票。要做这个手势，需要交叉中指和食指。如果你真心诚意地想要祝福别人，你或许可以告诉他们，你会交叉你所有的指头，包括你的脚趾。不过，前提是你得生活在美国，加拿大，英国或是澳大利亚。
If you happen to be a resident of Vietnam, however, you'll view crossed fingers as a vulgar symbol for female genitalia. Even worse is if another person crosses his fingers just for (or at) you. Then, it's an especially shocking and horrid offense. Crossed fingers are an ancient European superstition. Originally, the person locked fingers with another to form a cross (an X, like the Scottish cross of St. Andrew) and wish good luck. Later, the custom devolved to just one person crossing his or her fingers. And now most of the time we don't even cross fingers, but just say we will.
不过，如果你碰巧住在越南，你就会视交叉手指为暗指女性私处的下流动作。尤其当别人专门对你交叉手指时，事态就更为糟糕，这样的冒犯会令人感到震惊和不齿。交叉手指始于古代欧洲的迷信传统。起初，人们与他人交叉手指来形成一个十字（做出X的形状，就像苏格兰圣安德鲁教堂的十字架）并希望获得好运。之后，这个习惯演变成为一个人交叉自己的手指。如今，大部分时候我们不再交叉手指了，不过还是先假设这个习惯仍然存在吧。
4.手掌外翻
"Talk to the hand. ('Cause the face ain't listening.)" This popular American phrase began in the 1990s, and was accompanied by a gesture — thrusting out your hand toward another, with fingers spread and the palm out. While only mildly rude in the U.S., the gesture is very nasty and even confrontational in other lands.
“你还是和我的手说话吧。（毕竟我可懒得理你）”这个短语在上个世纪九十年代于美国风靡一时，并且产生了伴随手势：把手甩向对方，手指展开，掌心外翻。在美国，这个手势委婉地表示了冒犯，但在其他国家，它却尤为下令人厌恶，甚至充满了挑衅的意味。
It's most popularly associated with Greece, where it's called the moutza. Those who give the moutza often accompany the gesture by saying, "Na!" which means, "Here you go!" Supposedly the gesture has its roots in ancient Byzantium, where people shamed criminals by scooping up cinders (moutzos) in their hands and then rubbing them on the offenders' faces. Some say dirt or feces also were used. In addition to Greece, the gesture is unwelcome in parts of Africa and in Pakistan. While the Japanese don't employ the moutza, they have a very similar gesture with the thumb tucked in. Incidentally, the moutza's basic meaning is an aggressive, "To hell with you!" or something stronger.
最为普遍的看法是，这个手势与希腊颇有渊源，其在当地被称为“moutza”。做出这个手势的人们往往同时大喊一声“喏！”，表示“走你！”。据推测，这个动作起源于旧时的拜占庭，当时的居民们用双手舀起一捧煤渣（希腊语“moutzos”），并将其涂在犯罪者的面部以示羞辱。有说法认为灰尘和排泄物也在使用之列。除了希腊，这个手势在非洲的局部地区和巴基斯坦也是不被接受的。尽管日本人不使用“moutza”，但他们有一个拇指内扣的手势与之十分类似。“Moutza”手势的直接含义攻击性十足，代表“去死吧”甚至要更为粗鲁。
3.前臂上举
When you think of it, Americans' use of "the finger" to deeply degrade someone is a pretty small, meek hand gesture, considering the hefty insult it's supposed to convey. The European forearm jerk, in contrast, is a much meatier gesture.
如果你觉得，美国人的竖中指的动作，相比其所意图传达的侮辱性而言实在是毫无震慑力，那么与之相对的欧洲式的前臂上举动作则实在得多了。
First you take your right hand and make a tight fist. Then you jerk your right forearm up as you slap the bicep forcefully with your left hand. Southern European males, including those in France, who call it the bras d'honneur, use the forearm jerk as a crude, phallic way to flip someone the bird. It can also indicate sentiments such as, "I'm better than you are," "Get lost, loser!" or "Up yours, buddy!" In Brazil, the gesture is known as the banana, although its meaning is the same. Men in Britain and Germany sometimes make the forearm jerk as a rude way of indicating they're lusting after a particular woman, although they'd never make the gesture at the woman.
要做出这个动作，首先，伸出你的右手并紧握成拳，而后在右前臂上举的同时，左手猛力拍击肱二头肌。欧洲南部的男性，包括法国男人们（他们称这个动作为“bras d’honneur”）习惯于用这个带有性暗示的下流动作来代替竖中指。同时，这个动作也可以表达诸如“我比你强”，“滚开，傻X！”或是“一边凉快去，伙计！”。在巴西，这个手势暗示着男性生殖器，不过适用范围和欧洲相同。英国和德国男性会用这个手势来低俗地表示对某一位女性的垂涎，尽管当着女人的面他们可从不敢这么做。
2.“Cutis”手势
Of all the hand gestures discussed thus far, the cutis seems the silliest. Of course, that's just to Western sensibilities. Primarily used in India and Pakistan, the hand sign is made by putting the tip of your thumb in your mouth with the rest of your fingers standing straight up. (Some people do it with the fingers curled in.) Once you make the gesture, you flick your thumb out of your mouth while crying out, "Cutta!" ("Screw you!") This gesture is not only an insult to you, but to your entire family — sort of like saying you and your family all suck — hence its severity. One of the more notable uses of the cutis was by Shoaib Akhtar, considered the fastest bowler in cricket history. Akhtar gave the cutis in Melbourne during a rain delay in the 2004 test series against Australia.
“Cutis”手势应该是目前上榜的手势中最愚不可及的一个了。不过的确，这个评判只是基于西方人的认知标准。这个手势最初起源于印度和巴基斯坦，人们用嘴含住大拇指前端，竖起剩下的四根手指（有些人偏好把四根手指内扣），并且在喊出“Cutta!(去你的！)”同时把大拇指弹出。因为这个手势不仅对个人产生了侮辱，还顺带牵连了受辱者的全家，相当于咒骂“你全家都不是东西！”，因此性质才尤为恶劣。这一手势在历史上最令人哗然的使用记录由阿伊布·阿卡塔所创造，他被认为是板球史上最快的投球手。他在2004年的国际板球锦标赛上做出了这个手势，当时，墨尔本对阵澳大利亚的比赛因降雨而被迫中断。
1.竖大拇指
Thumbs down on the thumbs-up sign when you're traveling. This seemingly-innocuous gesture that means, "Great! I like it! All right!" in the U.S. has pretty awful meanings elsewhere. In the Middle East, for example, it means up your butt, fella. (Or worse.) Many, if not most, Latin Americans find it offensive, as do citizens of West Africa, Greece, Russia, Sardinia, the south of Italy, Australia, the Philippines and many Islamic nations. Phew! That's a lot of thumbs-up haters. The gesture may have been popularized during World War II, when American pilots flashed the sign to their grounds crews to indicate they were good to go. But scholars believe it actually originated in ancient Rome when crowds used the "thumbs-up" sign to mean a gladiator should be speared or hid their thumbs if he should be spared. (Notice the negative meaning?) If you simply can't stop using this sign, know that you'll be all right in Germany and certain areas of Japan, where the thumbs-up sign simply indicates the number one.
在四处旅行时乱竖大拇指可不是个好主意。这个对美国人而言代表着“哇塞！牛逼啊！我喜欢！”的手势，看起来毫无攻击性，但却可能是别处的禁忌动作。比如，在中东地区，竖大拇指意味着“滚一边去，伙计”或更甚。尽管不是绝对现象，但大多数的拉美人都视竖拇指为一种冒犯，在西非、希腊、俄罗斯、撒丁岛、澳大利亚、菲律宾和意大利南部及众多伊斯兰国家，情况也是如此。嘿，看来这个手势的反对党可不在少数。有说法认为这个手势在二战期间风靡开来，因为当时美军飞行员向地面机组人员竖起大拇指，来表示已准备就绪。不过，学者们坚信该动作起源于古罗马时期。那时，人们竖起拇指来表决一名角斗士是否该被标枪投死，当拇指收起时，这名战士则可以被赦免。（注意看了，这含义可大不相同）如果你实在情难自禁地想要竖起大拇指，那么只要你在德国或是日本的特定地区都大可不必担心，因为在当地这个手势意味着“你是最棒的”。
翻译:张韵可 审校:Shrsvbeiftnkvdc 来源:前十网
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